Chapter Text
“Are you sure you’re okay by yourself?” Shepard asked into the comm as she followed Kahlee Sanders through the Villa. The halls felt familiar and it was a strange homecoming.
“I’ll be fine,” Garrus said. Shepard could hear dishes clinking in the background. “I’ve got snacks, there’s a terrible human soap opera on the vidscreen, and more than enough to keep me occupied.”
“I don’t remember seeing any giant guns in the apartment.”
The turian laughed. “That can be arranged. Don’t worry. I’m sure I’ll find something to calibrate.”
Kahlee gestured to a table on one of the Villa’s many balconies, overlooking the private section of beach. Several soldiers were on the sand below, enjoying the sun and surf. “I thought you might like the view while we go over the Alliance officers entering as N1 candidates. Admiral Hackett informed me you’ve already been briefed on our turian, asari, and salarian enrollees by their respective Councilors.”
Shepard pulled her eyes away from the beach and forced herself to focus on the datapad in front of her.
“Second Lieutenant Alexander Levine,” Kahlee started, calling up the first soldier. “Stationed mostly on colonies in the Attican Traverse, earned his commission for leading a mixed Alliance and civilian squad to defend a mine from batarian occupation.”
The next soldier flashed on Shepard’s datapad. “Captain Binod Kulkarni, First Special Operations, Biotics Division.” Kahlee looked up. “Covert infiltration of multiple Cerberus outposts, resulting in critical intel acquisitions. Unfortunately, it was overlooked, leading to the coup on the Citadel.”
“One of Kaidan’s kids?” Shepard asked as she scrolled through the profile. Sure enough, there was a note at the bottom of Captain Kulkarni’s dossier. ‘Take care of him, Shepard.’
“Yes, Lieutenant Colonel Alenko was one of the recommending officers. Captain Kulkarni was the most recent commission, receiving it a little under a month ago.” Kahlee swiped again. “First Lieutenant Lian Yao actually earned his commission in a civilian setting, as a member of the Heavy Urban Search and Crisis Response. The Alliance co-opted the human squads during the Reaper Wars. Lieutenant Yao lead multiple response teams over a ten-year period. He’s also a biotic, though the Alliance lists him as a vanguard class.”
Shepard smiled as the next face flashed on her screen. “Ensign Rodriguez?” she asked, looking up at Kahlee. Kahlee sighed and smiled affectionately. “Apparently she did better than Jack expected. After Ensign Prangley’s death, Anna took over leading the biotic support division to great success. She may not have the biotic ability of the rest of the students from Grissom, but she has a good tactical mind and the ability for leadership.”
“I’m sure Jack is loving this,” Shepard said, scrolling through the long list of commendations. It seemed as though nearly every soldier in the 103rd Marine Division had positive things to say about Rodriguez, who was promoted to First Lieutenant upon receiving her commission.
Kahlee swiped to the fifth soldier. “Second Lieutenant Eliza Wall. Wall was a support engineer at the Alliance’s New York base. When the Reapers arrived on Earth, she stole two Incisor rifles and two cases of grenades from the armory and evacuated almost three square miles of New York before the city was declared lost.” Kahlee looked away, her eyes glistening. Her hand covered the Alliance dog tags hanging around her neck. “David picked her up near Montreal. He told me the only soldier he’d ever met who deserved an N7 more than Wall was you.”
Shepard studied the picture in the dossier. She’d seen her before, but couldn’t register where. Clicking on Wall’s name brought up multiple extranet hits, including the most recent Armax Arsenal Arena leaderboards. “I’ve seen her in action.” Shepard said, realizing who she was. “It was a combat sim, but she’s good.”
Kahlee seemed to have composed herself again. “I would go into detail about Lieutenant Vega’s commission, but I seem to recall him serving with you on the Normandy.”
“Best six months of my life,” a familiar voice said from behind Shepard. She turned to see James Vega standing behind her. “Hey, Commander.”
“It’s Admiral now,” Shepard said, rising from her chair. She was greeted with a tight hug. Kahlee smilled and excused herself. Shepard caught her wiping her eyes again as she walked away. She turned back to James. “What have you been up to?”
James smiled and rubbed his chin. “Oh, you know, had to go home and see my abuela. Get in some real beach time before things got crazy here. Took a few girls dancing.”
“Anyone special?” Shepard asked, leaning against the balcony.
James laughed. “Come on, Lola, you know I only have eyes for you.”
“Lola?” A blonde soldier walked up to them. “Vega, you been holding out on me, keeping all the pretty girls to yourself?” He turned to Shepard. “Alex Levine. Maybe you and I can go out and get to know each other a little better, before things get too crazy here.”
The words were barely out of his mouth when a laser sight focused on his chest. Shepard smirked and shook her head.
“What the fuck is this shit?” Levine exclaimed. He shifted back and forth but the sight remained on him.
Vega smiled. “Ever hear of a merc called Archangel when you were bumming around on Omega?” he asked, barely holding back his laughter as Levine kept trying to avoid the sight.
Levine stopped for a second. “What, you’re saying that bastard is here?”
“Well Commander?” James stopped a second. “Sorry, Admiral?”
“Same frequency as always,” Shepard said.
James activated his comm. “Easy, Scars. I won’t let anyone hit on your girl.”
“I wasn’t going to shoot him. Just wanted to let him know he’s messing with the wrong turian’s wife is all.” Garrus’s voice rang clear through the comm, barely concealing his amusement.
Levine went pale. “You’re married to Archangel?”
“Even if she wasn’t,” James went on, “this is Commander Shepard. You can’t just mack on her like she’s some broad you’ve picked up in Afterlife. She’s got style. And taste.”
Levine saluted quickly and walked away. Garrus’s laser sight followed him for a few seconds, until Shepard heard the echo of him deactivating it. “Always good to see you, Vega,” he said finally. “Come over some time. Someone needs to teach that girl how to dance properly.”
“Aw come on Scars,” James said playfully. “She did a pretty good job at the casino.”
“You don’t remember that pathetic display at our apartment?”
James laughed. Shepard scowled. “Remember whose job is paying for your dextro food,” she said.
“I’m in those vids almost as much as you are,” Garrus joked. “I think the galaxy knows who really saved it.” Shepard heard the comm click as he signed off.
"So you two finally got hitched, huh?" James asked after closing his own comm link. "When did that happen?"
Shepard leaned on the railing overlooking the beach. A light breeze was blowing in off the ocean. "Two weeks ago. He stayed with me the entire time in Paris."
James joined her, closing his eyes as he felt the breeze on his face. "Sorry about Levine. Guy's a real asshole. I knew him back when I first enlisted."
"He going to be a problem?" Shepard asked.
"Hard to say. He's been trouble in the past, but he's here so he must have done something right." James chewed his lip, deep in thought. "If anything, he's just going to be a pain, hitting on anything that looks even remotely female."
Shepard continued to watch the soldiers on the beach below. "We'll see how much he's doing that after N1. Twenty-hour days of training do that for you."
"So I guess there's no time for dancing, huh, Lola?"
Shepard turned to him, brushing her hair out of her face. "Actually, I wanted to ask you about that," she said. "Just to get a little better. To surprise Garrus. If there's time."
"You're the one in charge," James reminded her. "You make the schedules. Just tell me when, and I'll bring the music."
Shepard reached out to shake James's hand. "Deal."